2025-12-25
9 分钟The Economist.
Hello, this is Rosie Bloor, co-host of The Intelligence, our daily news and current affairs podcast.
Welcome to Editors Pics.
We've chosen an article from the latest edition of The Economist that we thought you might enjoy.
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The first thing to know about domesticated turkeys is that they do not really go gobble gobble.
Children's books lie.
Instead,
turkeys emit either sharp seal-like barks or a strange trilling coup that sounds a bit like a basso pigeon.
The second thing to know is that they have no survival instinct.
Wild turkeys have a shrewd skittishness, as any hunter knows.
Farm turkeys, however, will walk right up to you and peck at your shoes and hands.
That is because the person entering their enclosure is usually bringing food.
Yet that is true for chickens, too, and they have the good sense to run away first.
After all, there will come a time when their keepers do not bring food,
but takes them to the slaughterhouse to become it.
That time is now.
Millions of the birds will be devoured in the coming days.
Families in France, Belgium and Switzerland will serve down to de Noël as their centrepiece.
Americans having just eaten 46 million turkeys for Thanksgiving will consume around 22 million at Christmas.